Dr. Marcus Antonius Plenčič is usually described as an Austrian, which was the fate of many successful Slovenes who lived under Austrian rule. He was born in 1705 in Solkan to Slovenian parents Sebastian or Boštjan Plenčič and Ana, née Krivic. He was baptized by the Solkan parish priest Jakob Lampretič in the presence of his godparents Andrej Černič and his wife Maria, née Bratuž. He was of Slovenian descent and his native language was Slovenian. He studied in Gorizia, Padua and Vienna, where he received his doctorate in medicine in 1734. He then worked as a physician and conducted research in Vienna until his death in 1786. Dr. Plenčič, better known as Plenciz, was one of the first physician scientists to promote the "germ theory" of diseases.